


How to Seduce a Librarian

by reeology



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Fluff, Getting Together, Librarian!Rei, M/M, Nagisa is a Little Shit, ObnoxiousPatron!Nagisa, Rin's dirty whorish mouth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-28
Updated: 2015-05-28
Packaged: 2018-04-01 09:54:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4015324
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reeology/pseuds/reeology
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The one where Rei is a librarian and Nagisa is the obnoxious patron that constantly annoys him.</p><blockquote>
  <p>"Sir," Rei says. His voice is as loud and all-caps-y as it can possibly be while still technically being classified as a whisper. "Please be quiet in the library."</p>
  <p>Loud Guy leans forward until their noses are brushing. "Please go out with me," he stage-whispers back.</p>
  <p>"No," Rei says, sounding thoroughly harassed.</p>
</blockquote>
            </blockquote>





	How to Seduce a Librarian

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to Taylor for loyally reading this every day as I wrote it; to [radio-silents](http://http://radio-silents.tumblr.com/), AKA [AndthereIwas](http://archiveofourown.org/users/AndthereIwas/pseuds/AndthereIwas), AKA Becca for doing the same thing; and to Karra for the speedy beta. Y'all rock.
> 
>  **NOW WITH ADORABLE FANART!**  
> [Rei and Nagisa smoochin' in the stacks](http://rin-le.tumblr.com/post/120252051064/sketch-for-reeology-who-wrote-the-absolutely) by the very talented, very kind [rin-le](http://rin-le.tumblr.com/) <333 Thank you so much!

Loud Guy is back.

Rei doesn't need to look up from the program guide he's compulsively proofreading to know exactly what he'll see. There's a petite blond in short-shorts, a hoodie, and hi-tops standing in Non-Fiction—most likely in the 590's, if he had to venture a guess. Rei expects he's no doubt fresh from the pool, smelling of chlorine with his bangs plastered to his forehead, and Rei wouldn't be surprised to find he's dripping everywhere again.

He's already mentally rearranging his schedule to allow time to examine all the books in the area for water marks. Not that he can prove it's Loud Guy defacing the collection, because that particular section of the library isn't covered by the security cameras. Not to mention Headquarters is growing weary of his 'paranoid delusions', as Nanase put it so bluntly, and he 'shouldn't push his luck'.

Nanase, who is tapping his finger in _that_ way, the way that means, 'You get to deal with him this time'.

As though that's a surprise, given that Rei is the only one who deals with patrons. Nanase is good at many things—cataloging, creating the most passionately artistic displays, choosing the perfect book for someone based on their reading history—but he is a literal human disaster when it comes to interacting with patrons. So cataclysmically awful that he should have been terminated by this point, except it's generally more bureaucratic red tape than it's worth to fire someone from a government job.

Sighing, Rei slides his glasses up his nose and resigns himself to his fate. He rolls up his sleeve to check his watch and estimates he has approximately five minutes before Loud Guy's volume reaches the Violating Library Policy range and Rei is required to ask him to lower his voice. Less, if he leaves the Non-Fiction section and wanders too close to the DVDs.

He's vigorously crossing out extraneous commas when someone's cell phone starts ringing and a chirpy, familiar voice says, "Hello! Mako-chan?"

Rei checks his watch. Barely even two minutes and Loud Guy is already at least five decibels over the allowable range. It could be a new record for quickest ejection from a public library. He makes a note in the margin of the neon green brochure— _two minutes and one second, Hazuki, cell phone_ —before sliding out of his seat to ask Loud Guy to please take his phone conversation outside.

He refers to him as Loud Guy, but the truth is Rei knows his name and much more—probably more than is socially acceptable to know about an almost-stranger. The few times Loud Guy has actually managed to check out material before being escorted bodily from the premises (and his fine has been low enough to use his library card), Rei has been the one to pull up his account and scan his books. From his account, Rei has gleaned several things. He has an itemized list in his mind.

  1. Name: Hazuki, Nagisa
  2. Birthdate: 1, August
  3. Account Type: Resident, Adult
  4. Account Notes: Fines, Exorbitant
  5. ¥1575: Replacement Copy, RINGU (1998, 96 min, unrated)
  6. ¥1210: Replacement Copy, DARK WATER (2002, 101 min, PG-13)
  7. ¥1200: Replacement Copy, JU-ON: THE GRUDGE (2003, 92 min, R)
  8. ¥1810: Replacement Copy, AND TANGO MAKES THREE (2005, unpaged, 23 x 30 cm)
  9. ¥4845: Replacement Copy, THE GREAT EMPIRES OF THE ANCIENT WORLD (2010, 288 p, 28 cm).
  10. Hobbies: Rei, Harassing



The last one is not part of his account, obviously, but merely an observation made after too many repeated incidents (twelve so far, to be exact).

His mental tallying of Loud Guy's infractions comes to an abrupt, alarming halt when he hears Loud Guy's voice suddenly take on a high-pitched shriek that usually means he's found the new DVDs.

"Mako-chan! They have that new Hercules movie you said you'd watch with me. I'll have to put it on your card because mine's suspended again. If you even think about trying to weasel out of movie night again because of studying or whatever, I'll—oh shit, the hot librarian is gonna yell at me again, hold on a sec."

Grinning, Loud Guy pulls his phone away from his ear and holds it against his chest. His nails are painted the color of Skittles, Rei notices, and is not impressed.

" _Sir_ ," he says, because as much as he would really like to wring Loud Guy's neck right now, he is nothing if not professional, and he can't exactly call him Loud Guy to his face, or risk Headquarters finding out he inappropriately addressed a patron. His voice is as loud and all-caps-y as it can possibly be while still technically being classified as a whisper. " _Please be quiet in the library._ "

Loud Guy's smile only grows wider as he leans forward until their noses touch, so close Rei can practically feel his eyelashes as Loud Guy blinks in a way that can only be described as coquettish. Rei would be doing something about this ungodly invasion of personal space if he weren't so busy trying to prevent his face from bursting into flames.

" _Please go out with me_ ," Loud Guy stage-whispers back at him with a mischievous glint in his magenta eyes, an expression Rei has come to associate with water-damaged paperbacks and 'accidentally' upturned tables.

"No," Rei says, sounding thoroughly harassed.

A groan comes from Loud Guy's phone—and from behind the desk, as well. Rei spares a moment to push up his glasses and glare at Nanase, as though to say, 'This is all your fault.'

"Man, rejected again," Loud Guy says. He puts his phone back up to his ear and says, "Lemme call you back, Mako-chan. I have your card, and I'm getting this movie, and you're coming over tonight, or else."

Despite the vague, open-ended threat, Loud Guy ends the call cheerfully, and Rei's jaw nearly drops. Never, in all the times he's asked Loud Guy to be quiet, has Loud Guy actually complied. Rei checks his watch again to assure himself the world is still spinning and time itself has not, in fact, ground to a screeching halt.

It's 10:59. There's one minute left until his morning break. The world marches on.

He spends his one remaining minute watching as Loud Guy snatches up a handful of DVDs—mostly horror, Rei notices, because that seems to be his favorite—and literally skips to the self-check. Rei bites back the impulse to interrupt him, to tell him he can't check out using someone else's card, because the truth is he can. It would be inexcusably invasive if Rei intervened as Loud Guy was using the self service station, and his career is utterly doomed if Headquarters finds out he's indulging in investigating his 'delusions' again. Even though he literally just heard Loud Guy declare he's using another patron's card, the security cameras do not record audio, and Nanase can't be trusted to back him up.

So he watches, clenching his teeth with self-righteous indignation, as Loud Guy checks out his DVDs, folds his receipt in his impossibly tight pink shorts, and waves goodbye.

" _Have a good day_ ," Loud Guy whisper-yells with an exaggerated wink.

"You do the same, sir," Rei replies with a graciousness he does not feel.

Loud Guy practically bounces out of the library. Rei actually worries for the safety of those DVDs—not without good reason, he thinks, as he recalls the fines on Loud Guy's account. He's all set to take his book (THE GRAPES OF MATH: MIND-STRETCHING MATH RIDDLES, 40 p, 27 cm) to the break room when Loud Guy unexpectedly bounces right back in, makes finger-guns in Rei's direction, and says, "Next time, you're gonna say yes."

Snorting, Nanase clicks to the next page of whatever blog he's reading. Rei stares with his mouth open and doesn't reply.

Unfazed, Loud Guy giggles, makes more finger-guns, and moonwalks out.

After a short deliberation, Rei mentally files Loud Guy's tireless and disastrous enthusiasm for wooing him under 031.02, Curiosities and Wonders. Then he wipes his mysteriously sweaty palms on his dress pants and leaves to read his math puzzles in the staff lounge until 11:15.

* * *

"I need a new plan of attack," Nagisa announces later, once he and Makoto are situated in Nagisa's tiny shoebox of a dorm room, both seated on the Western-style bed which doubles somewhat successfully as a couch. The TV is churning static now that the movie has ended and the DVD player is off, but he can't be bothered to reach the extra distance to hit the TV remote. Too much effort. The static is kind of calming, anyway.

"For?" Makoto asks.

"Rei-chan," he says, and just saying his name makes his fingertips feel electric, his chest pleasantly tight at the mental image of bright red glasses sliding down the most adorable nose, even as Rei says something snooty and condescending, because Nagisa knows he doesn't mean it, not really.

Makoto does look up then, blinking. "And who is Rei-chan?"

"The hot librarian I'm going to marry someday," he sighs dreamily.

"Oh, you mean Ryugazaki-san. Right, of course," Mako-chan says, biting his lip. There's a smile behind it.

"Mako-chaaaan, help me brainstorm!" He flops over sideways, half-sprawled in Makoto's lap, and pokes Makoto's chin. Chin-poking is one of his most successful methods of persuasion. He's contemplating trying it on Rei if he keeps getting turned down so coldly and blatantly.

"Um, okay. How about you start by returning your movies on time?" Makoto's gaze falls to the DVD case on the floor--or, more pointedly, the remnants of Nagisa's lunch spread unfortunately across Hercules's rock-hard abs. "And not covered in strawberry jam?"

"Yes! Mako-chan!" Nagisa sits up like he's been struck by a particularly energized bolt of lightning and grapples with the drawer in his bedside table for pen and paper. Once he finds a pen, he brandishes it dramatically in Makoto's face and declares, "That is the kind of out-of-the-box thinking this mission needs!"

He rips out his notes about organic chemistry—because seriously, who cares about science, it's not like he's discarding his notes on World History or anything—and runs his hand down the new, clean page, full of possibilities. At the top, he writes, 'HOW TO SEDUCE A LIBRARIAN', and enthusiastically begins compiling a list.

  1. Return your books on time (IN GOOD CONDITION)
  2. BE QUIET IN THE LIBRARY
  3. Donate to the library
  4. Buy your librarian books
  5. Ask them out to dinner
  6. ???
  7. PROFIT



It's all kind of a blur of creativity and genius, and he finds himself underlining the really good ideas several times with his sparkly pink gel pen. When he's finished, he holds it up to Makoto's face with a gigantic, self-satisfied grin, and says, "Ta-da!"

Makoto's face retains as much kindness as possible while still grimacing. "Nagisa…"

"Yes, Mako-chan!" Nagisa says, practically vibrating with expectancy, just knowing Makoto is going to love this plan as much as Nagisa already does.

But Makoto is nothing if not a bubble-burster, because he says, "You are aware that you're not actually doing any of this, right?"

Blinking, Nagisa turns the list towards himself and re-reads it. "Ah!" he says, pointing at number five. "I did ask him to go out with me!"

"Maybe you should start at the top and work your way down," Makoto suggests weakly.

"And that is why you're a crucial part of my think tank, Mako-chan," Nagisa says without missing a beat. He underlines number one on the list four more times and announces, "Operation Seduce Rei-chan begins!"

"You should probably pay off your gigantic fine someday, too," Makoto says, but Nagisa ignores him.

* * *

Having a workout partner is a completely logical thing. They help with spotting, point out flaws in your routine, and offer advice. It's recommended, even.

That's why Rei really, really hates when Rin calls them their 'man dates' and asks him for the 'scoop on that hot blond'.

"He's absolutely appalling," Rei responds, rather than floundering and getting upset, because at this point in their routine he knows Rin is only fishing for a reaction, and he's had quite enough of that today. "His fine is so high that he's actually resorted to putting his materials on someone else's card, and he uses the self-check station so I can't stop him."

"Okay, I asked you for deets, not a report on his fucking checkout history," Rin grunts from beneath the barbell he's lifting—which Rei is keeping a critical eye on, lest he allow his workout partner to be strangled beneath its weight, as tempting as it is when Rin resorts to such vulgarity.

"I'm not sure what qualifies as 'deets'," he says prudishly.

"I'm tryin' to ask if he fucking asked you out again, and if your lame ass finally said yes this time."

"Oh." A blush rises to his cheeks, unbidden. He adjusts his glasses and coughs into his fist. "Yes, he did ask me to—go on a date with him. I declined, naturally."

"Sounds like you just need some dick," Rin says.

"Hardly," Rei says, scandalized.

Rin makes a disgusted noise and sets the weight in its holder, dragging his arm across the sweat that's collected on his forehead. Immediately, Rei hands him his towel, and fetches the sanitary wipes from his bag to scrub down the machine for his turn.

He thinks that's the last of it, that his curt and fairly firm denial of needing any sort of phallus in his life has effectively ended the discussion, but sadly it has not.

Rin waits until Rei has lifted the full weight of the barbell to unleash his next tirade of inappropriateness. "I'm just saying, you come here and bitch about him every fucking week like some lovesick asshole, and I'm getting pretty tired of listening to all the drama but none of the dirty details."

"Dirty—" Rei cuts himself off, because that's not even worth repeating, not worth wasting precious oxygen that needs to be delivered to his muscles so he can heft this gigantic weight above his head and keep his body in peak condition.

"Listen," Rin says after Rei has finished all his reps and is meticulously wiping down the equipment again. He has his own towel slung around his shoulders. He also has this smug expression that shows all his pointed teeth and reflexively makes Rei want to flee.

"I'm listening." He may not want to be listening, but it would be rude to ignore someone after they took time from their busy day to ensure you were not strangled by your own barbell crushing your windpipe. He pushes up his glasses again and does his best to appear attentive.

"Tell me this: have you ever thought about filing like, a harassment thing? Getting this guy banned permanently?"

"Absolutely not! That's hardly necessary, as I can take care of myself, and it's not so much harassment as it is a mere nuisance and—why are you smiling?"

"Because," Rin says around the grin that grows wider the longer he looks at Rei, "if you really didn't like him, you'd have reported him so hard he'd never be allowed in the library again. And—don't you try to fuckin' deny it, Ryugazaki, I know you—given how tightly you keep your asshole clenched around the stick you have crammed up there, you wouldn't let him get away with all the shit he does if you weren't at least a little interested."

Rei's mouth clicks shut. Loath as he is to admit, Rin may have a point.

When the silence stretches too long and Rin's gloating becomes unbearable, Rei breaks the moment by clearing his throat. "Yes, well. Regardless of his—finer physical attributes, shall we say—his personality faults are far too glaring for me to ever consider a relationship beyond that of librarian and patron."

"Right," Rin says, rolling his eyes. He rolls up his towel and snaps it in Rei's general direction as he pushes past him. "When you're ready to admit you want the D, let me know, and maybe I can help you unwedge that stick. Until then, I'm hittin' the pool."

Rei's only thought as he watches Rin leave is a vaguely disgusted, _Swimmers_ , as though that explains all their erratic behavior.

* * *

"Fuckin' stuck-up asshole, needs to get laid, I swear to god, if I see him next week and he still hasn't fucked that guy, I can't be held responsible for my actions, I mean, what the fucking hell…"

Makoto's ears are pink as they listen to the stranger's tirade, because Makoto is the type of sweet, innocent cinnamon roll who can't even bring himself to say 'dammit' when he drops an 800 page hardcover textbook directly on his big toe.

Nagisa, on the other hand, thinks this guy is hilarious.

"We need to become friends with him immediately," he says to Makoto, draping himself over the floating lane divider.

"You're not supposed to hang on that," Makoto says, predictably. "Also, we're supposed to be swimming laps. You don't want Gou-chan to be mad at us, do you?"

Nagisa pouts. "Gou-chan is always mad! Nagisa, don't eat strawberry pocky," he imitates, pitching his voice higher and about ten times louder, " _Nagisa, don't fill up on bread before practice, NAGISA, PLEASE LOWER YOUR SUGAR INTAKE OR YOU WILL DIE OF DIABETES BEFORE AGE THIRTY_."

He's so worked up doing his impression of their swim team manager that it takes him a while to realize he's the only voice in the pool, and his high-pitched squeals are echoing off the walls. Even the guy with the shark face and the vulgar rant has stopped talking, and everyone is just staring at him.

"Oops," he says. He sinks down a little and blows bubbles into the pool water.

His ears are still above water, though, so he doesn't miss it when sharkface slaps his knee and cackles, "Oh my fucking god, you're Loud Guy."

"Eh?" Nagisa flips his goggles on top of his wet, curly mass of hair and blinks a lot. Sharkface has the same red hair as Gou-chan, but he doesn't look familiar otherwise. "Do you know me?"

"Nah, but I'm pretty sure I know _of_ you." Sharkface squats down at the edge of the pool, grinning, and if Nagisa weren't incredibly invested in his cute, fussy librarian, he might have let himself be distracted by the outline of this guy's dick in his jammers.

Okay, so he's a little distracted anyway. He's infatuated, not dead.

"Um, and how do you know of him, exactly?" Makoto asks. He's using the Dad Voice, the one he pulls out when he's nagging Nagisa about eating breakfast, or attending lecture, or at least considering putting on real pants before he answers the door. He swims up right alongside Nagisa and kind of puts his shoulder between him and Sharkface, and Nagisa would be delighted by this show of protection if he didn't know Makoto cries at Sailor Moon and has never been in a real fight in his life.

Still, it's nice to know Makoto would defend his honor, if he had any.

"This is all just fuckin' conjecture, but I'm guessing this guy," he jerks his thumb at Nagisa, "makes it his daily mission to piss off a certain librarian?"

"Yes," Nagisa says excitedly. "Do you know Rei-chan?"

"Hell yeah, I do. My name's Rin, by the way."

Before Makoto can tell him not to, Nagisa launches himself out of the water to hang on Rin's shoulders. "Nice to meet you, Rin-chan! How did you know who I was?" He presses his face in close to Rin's, close enough to count his pores, which are a tragedy, oh my god, he can just hear his lovely Rei-chan criticizing Rin's skin care routine. "More importantly, does he talk about me?"

"Yes, all the fuckin' time." Rin laughs, like he's not at all offended or freaked out that Nagisa has latched onto him like a particularly cuddly lemur. "Please tell me you're gonna bag him soon. I mean, shit, he's probably still in the weights room, you could go jump his bones right here and now—"

"Rin-san," Makoto says, and it's kind of impressive the way he can sound so heartbreakingly disappointed in someone he hasn't even properly been introduced to yet.

Speaking of.

"This is Mako-chan," Nagisa says, releasing his death grip on Rin's shoulders.

"Nice to meet ya," Rin says with a mock salute. "Although I coulda guessed. Rei's always talking about blondie being accompanied by some big brunet beefcake named Makoto."

"Um, it's nice to meet you too." The tone is polite, but his eyes are wary.

"Please, as though you don't know how hot you are," Nagisa snorts, and Makoto promptly turns red and makes a weak attempt at drowning. "Anyway, back to the important thing—Mako-chan and I have a plan, and we have to stick to the plan because that's what Rei-chan would want, and that plan does not, sadly, involve naked wrestling in the locker room."

"Thank goodness," Makoto says, floating back up from his self-inflicted submerged prison. He looks considerably less relieved when he catches sight of Rin's devious expression.

"Oh, I like this guy," Nagisa says, propping his chin on his hands and waiting with devilish glee for Rin to say whatever brilliant thing he's going to say next.

"A plan, huh." Rin rubs his chin, and his smile goes sharp. "Given all the shit he's told me about you, I'm pretty sure I can tell you exactly what to do."

"Do you guys really think this is the best idea?"

"Shh, Mako-chan, I'm listening."

Rin cracks his knuckles and sits on the ledge of the pool, one leg drawn up against his chest as he ushers Nagisa and Makoto closer. "Do what I say, and I guarantee you'll have him eating out of the palm of your hand by the end of the fuckin' week."

Nagisa is pretty sure they're all going to be best friends.

* * *

Five minutes after opening, the automatic doors swish open and Loud Guy appears, water dripping from his hair and the tip of his nose, and Rei sighs.

It's raining today, so he supposes he can't fault him for being wet. This time.

Loud Guy is wearing garishly bright yellow galoshes and carrying a rainbow umbrella, which he places inside the umbrella holder by the door with exaggerated care. That alone has Rei arching his eyebrows and standing up a little straighter. Never before has Loud Guy shown an inch of compassion for any of the library materials, or indeed the building itself, and this small act of consideration has Rei's suspicions already nipping at his figurative heels.

"Good morning, sir," he greets cautiously, relieved to be relatively safe behind the counter separating them.

"Morning, Rei-cha--ahh, I mean, Rei-san." Loud Guy tilts his head and grins at him.

The hair on the back of Rei's neck prickles. Then the unthinkable happens, and Loud Guy pulls out a pristine DVD copy of Hercules (2014, 97 min, PG-13) and actually fits it in the slot marked 'BOOK DROP'. It slides down a short metal shoot and lands neatly in a tub by Rei's hip.

His mere suspicions balloon into full-blown paranoia as he picks up the case with slim, shaking fingers and checks to see that yes, the disc is indeed inside the case. He scans the barcode and blinks rapidly at the screen. It's not due for another five days.

Loud Guy watches him the whole time with big eyes brimming with some unnamed emotion. Whatever it is, is bright and unguarded and a little bit—Rei would say naughty, but that encourages a line of thinking most often adapted by Rin, and Rei just isn't going there. Nope.

"Is there a problem, Rei-san?" Loud Guy asks.

"No." He doesn't intend to sound so confused by that statement, and Rei hardly ever does something he doesn't intend, but there you have it—Nagisa Hazuki has returned an item early, Rei has been flabbergasted, hell has frozen over, and eternal winter is probably about to sweep the planet into a second ice age.

Mechanically, he locks the DVD case and sets it on a stack for Nanase to shelve later.

Loud Guy's smile intensifies. He swipes his wet hair behind his ear, then turns and squeaks over to the DVDs in his galoshes. He ends up not dripping on anything, or even checking anything out, and leaves without being asked.

Rei is so utterly, completely confused that he forgets to take his break at 11:00.

* * *

"Well, how did it go?" Makoto asks as they're peeling off their shirts in the pool locker room. It's late evening, and most of the guys there with them are finishing up their after-work routines, striding around with towels slung low on their hips and steaming up all the mirrors with too-hot showers. It smells overwhelmingly of chlorine and socks.

"Horrible," Nagisa says. He throws his T-shirt onto a bench and shimmies out of his shorts with less pizazz than usual. "It was physically painful, Mako-chan. He was wearing his best purple bowtie—"

"You've memorized his wardrobe?" Makoto says, mostly to himself, because both of them know Nagisa will not bother to stop his rant to reply. (The answer is yes, of course. Nagisa could write an entire dissertation on what pants look best on Rei's ass: the pair of dark wash jeans he wears once in a blue moon on Casual Friday.)

"—and his hair was doing this really, really cute thing, like he'd been pulling at it all morning, and I didn't even ask if he wanted to have lunch with me!"

"Well, that's good right?" Makoto smiles his trademark Makoto smile, gentle and supportive, and then makes a noise like a gutted giraffe and looks away as Nagisa drops his briefs to step into his jammers. "Nagisa, a little warning, please!"

Nagisa pops his hip to the side and smirks. "Don't act like it's nothing you haven't seen before."

"It's embarrassing," Makoto says, still covering his eyes. "Are you decent yet?"

"More or less." He bends down to shove his clothes in his gym bag. He doesn't fold them like Makoto does—he just bundles them all in a big ball and jams 'em in there, because he likes the scandalized stares on the train when people see him daring to wear wrinkled shorts on public transit. "Do you think Rin-chan is here today?"

Makoto slowly lowers his hand, and his giant shoulders rise and fall in a relieved sigh when he sees Nagisa has covered his genitals, at least. "I don't know. Didn't he give you his contact information?"

"Oh, that's right!" Digging past his underwear, Nagisa finds his cell phone—appropriately pink and bedazzled—and swipes it unlocked.

 _HAS REI-CHAN SAID ANYTHING ABOUT ME YET?? (●_ _ω_ _●✿)_

"I think you spend more time making emojis than actually texting," Makoto mutters, watching over his shoulder.

"Nonsense, emojis are a crucial part of texting," Nagisa tuts. Then his phone buzzes three times, rapid-fire, as though Rin doesn't understand the concept of combining multiple sentences into one message. He nearly flings the phone against the wall in his haste to unlock it again.

 _dude, it hasn't even been 24 hours since we talked…_  
_I haven't seen him yet_  
_did you implement the plan already?_

Nagisa cackles to himself as he taps out a reply.

 _ﾉ_ _◕_ _ヮ_ _◕)_ _ﾉ_ _you bet I did!!!_

His phone vibrates before he can even put it down.

 _jesus you're creepy_  
_avoid the library for a few days and let him sweat_  
_i'll let you know if he talks about you_

Nagisa pouts. "Okay, update: Rin-chan is an idiot and I'm not listening to a word he says," he says with finality, hurling the phone back into his bag. He shoves the whole thing into his locker and slams it shut, then opens the little door and slams it again, just because.

"What?" Makoto cringes as Nagisa keeps slamming the locker. He grasps Nagisa's wrist gently and clicks the lock shut for him, preventing any further locker abuse. "I mean, I'm kind of relieved, but what makes you say that?"

Nagisa headbutts Makoto's shoulder and wilts against him. "He said I shouldn't talk to Rei for a while."

Makoto remains silent, carding his fingers through Nagisa's sunny, wild hair.

This would be comforting, but Nagisa does not want comfort. He wants Makoto to validate his irrational desire to see Rei every single day of his life.

He pounds a small fist on Makoto's chest and tells him so. "Mako-chan, you're supposed to tell me he's stupid and wrong and of course I should see Rei-chan everyday!"

"I can't believe I'm going to say this," Makoto says, pulling his hand away to rub the back of his neck. He's wearing an expression like he's in actual, physical pain, "but I agree with Rin-san."

"You're a traitor," Nagisa mumbles into Makoto's chest. His words carry very little actual heat and more tired resignation.

Makoto smiles fondly at the top of his head. "I'm just watching out for you. Don't you want to see if he misses you?"

"Yes," he whines.

"Then just be patient," Makoto says gently. He pries Nagisa away from his body and pats him on the shoulder. "Now, let's get going. Gou-chan says she's going to add to leg days if we don't improve our times."

Gou-chan's leg day routines are already intense enough that just the thought of them has Nagisa's knees and hamstrings aching. He snaps his goggles on his forehead and says, "Aye aye, captain!" and runs into the pool area, despite a very large sign that says 'NO RUNNING'.

Nagisa doesn't know how to be patient, but for Rei, he will try.

* * *

Rei's apartment smells like musty books. To some people, this is a turn-off, but when the crisp scent hits his nose, Rei feels all the stress of the day simply seep out of his bones, and he becomes calm.

The source of the smell is the collection of old hardbacks that Rei has accumulated over the years, pulled out of discard piles and recycling bins at every opportunity, like he's creating his own rescue dog kennel of abandoned library books. The pages are yellowed, some crumbling, but all have valuable information that Rei is determined to learn.

There aren't enough bookcases in his small home to hold them all, so they live in carefully arranged towers. They're sorted by subject, some by name, and some, if the whimsy strikes him, by color. Each pile unofficially represents the mood Rei has to be in to pluck the top book off and begin reading—curious, restless, scientific, nostalgic, melancholic, and so on.

The third day of not seeing Loud Guy, he returns home, hangs his jacket on the hook by the door, and realizes that he doesn't feel like reading any of them.

This has never happened before.

"Preposterous," he says to his empty apartment. Ridiculous. Absolutely unheard of.

He's fatigued, he decides. He needs protein, vitamin C, and some complex carbohydrates. Surely that will remedy the situation.

His pantry is fully stocked, because he prides himself on being a thriving, self-sufficient adult. He cooks whole grain pasta with red peppers and tofu, with raw broccoli on the side. The perfect dinner to lift his spirits after a surprisingly quiet day.

His kitchen is small, and it catches and holds all the heat from the stove. Rei rolls up his sleeves and loosens his bowtie when he sits to say a quick thanks and eat his meal.

It's peaceful, he tells himself. He likes peaceful.

He doesn't know why he expects someone to be seated across from him, or why he wishes, for the first time, there was someone to dry off his dishes as he washes them slowly in the sink.

Well, he does know, actually. How could he not, after what Rin said?

"That's right, this is Rin's fault." He straightens his glasses on his nose and nods, more or less to himself.

Rin is the one who needs to take responsibility. He practically lives at the gym, so Rei could probably catch him there and—make him fix this. Take back what he said.

Yes, that's what he should do. What he needs to do.

He sweeps out of his apartment and locks up without even remembering to turn off the kitchen light.

* * *

There's something about seeing someone outside of their normal habitat that makes them seem exotic and otherworldly. Like a five year old seeing their kindergarten teacher at the supermarket, or, say, a smitten swimmer seeing the object of his considerable affections standing on a train platform. That weird feeling of 'holy shit, you don't belong here' paired with 'oh my god, you do normal things, too?'

Nagisa actually considers the fact that he might be dreaming—or hallucinating, more likely—when he catches sight of bright red glasses and sleek blue hair at the train station. He pinches his arm so hard he leaves a bruise, but Rei is still there, crossing his arms and tapping his foot as he stands amongst the crush of people waiting for the next train.

Nagisa weaves in and out of the crowd to get a closer look and sees that Rei's bowtie is uncharacteristically loose, his shirt sleeves cuffed neatly at his elbows. His argyle sweater vest is yellow and purple and it looks fantastic. If he were wearing jeans, Nagisa would have to pinch himself one more time just to double-check that this isn't a dream, because that would be too good to be true. But Rei's wearing khakis, and those look nice too—just not as nice as jeans.

Nagisa is wondering what to say—or if he should say anything at all; maybe he should call Makoto or Rin and ask for some emergency advice—when Rei turns to watch the approaching train and their eyes meet, just for a second.

They both jolt as if electrocuted.

"Oh, sir--I mean, Hazuki-san," Rei says, blinking. He shrinks away like he's afraid.

"Nagisa," he blurts, before he can think too hard about it. The train glides to a stop next to them and they're jostled from side to side as the crowd pushes forward en masse. He worries for a moment that Rei will join them and he'll be forced to chase him down the different train cars like it's an Old West movie.

Actually, that would be pretty cool.

But Rei stays, eyes locked on Nagisa's, and soon they're the only two people standing on the platform as the train groans away.

"Pardon me?" Rei sounds kind of choked, and he slides his glasses up higher on his nose, even though they weren't slipping to begin with.

"Call me Nagisa," he says. "I don't like Hazuki-san."

"Th-then, Nagisa-san, what are you--"

"Seriously, what's with the -san?" he asks, wrinkling his nose.

"Well." Rei is running out of things to fiddle with. He tightens his bowtie with sleek, strong fingers and clears his throat. "It wouldn't be proper to speak to a customer so informally."

If Nagisa's not mistaken, Rei's cheeks are red. He takes a step closer and tilts his head. "But I like it when you're informal with me. And I don't want to be just a customer."

"Regrettably, if another customer were to overhear and find me to be rude--" Rei looks away, down the tunnel, as though watching for the next train. His fingers unfold his sleeves and clasp the buttons back around his delicate wrists. "--they might report me to headquarters, and that would be most unfortunate."

"Um, Rei-chan," Nagisa says.

"Yes, Hazu--Nagisa-san?"

"We're not at the library right now. You can just call me Nagisa."

"Oh. Yes. My apologies, Nagisa-s--" Rei swallows noticeably and tries again, "Nagisa-kun."

 _Close enough_ , he thinks, and stands close enough to Rei that their arms could touch if he were feeling especially bold. And he is feeling bold, actually, but mostly he's thinking that this is the most he's ever talked to Rei without being reprimanded about something, and he wants it to keep happening for as long as possible. He's also thinking about his list, and the plan, and he wonders if this means it's actually working.

The list is actually folded in his back pocket, because he's obsessed with it and never goes anywhere without it. He pulls it out and scans through it.

HOW TO SEDUCE A LIBRARIAN

  1. ~~Return your books on time (IN GOOD CONDITION)~~
  2. ~~BE QUIET IN THE LIBRARY~~
  3. Donate to the library
  4. Buy your librarian books
  5. Ask them out to dinner
  6. ???
  7. PROFIT



Donate to the library, huh? Nagisa can do that. He can totally do that.

"What's that?" Rei asks.

"Oh, nothing," he says, grinning, and stuffs the paper back into his pocket. "Say, does the library accept donations?"

"We accept materials in good condition, although typically these items are not added to the collection," Rei says, sounding like he's quoting straight from a library policy somewhere. "They are sold to benefit the library. And audiovisual materials and computer software are never—"

"So, yes, you accept donations." Nagisa only feels a little guilty about cutting him off. He loves listening to Rei talk, he really does—his voice is strong and beautiful when he gets carried away like this—but if he listens to Rei's lovely, amazing voice much longer, he knows he'll be tempted to ignore the plan, and then he'll lose all the progress he's made.

"Yes."

"Good." He grins at Rei and relishes the sight of his cute pink cheeks, wishing he could stay and ride the train with him, but knowing it's better that he doesn't. He's already planning on walking down to the next station, or maybe grabbing a to-go cup of something sugary at the cafe down the street, just to put some distance between them. If Makoto were here, he'd tell him it's a waste of yen that he should really be putting toward his outrageous library fines, but, well, Makoto isn't here.

"So, um," Rei says, and he looks so painfully uncomfortable—but cute, so very, very cute—that Nagisa decides to take pity on him and cut this short.

"Oh, I just remembered! I'm actually supposed to meet Mako-chan for study group right now." Nagisa rubs the back of his neck, one eye closed and his tongue poking out, like, 'oh no, silly me, I forgot.'

"Then I suppose you'd better get going," Rei says, graciously, as though he's granting him permission and not actually about to wilt from the sheer force of relief he's feeling.

"Yep. I guess I'll see you around, Rei-chan." Resisting the urge to pop onto his toes and kiss Rei's cheek, Nagisa settles for a wave instead, and darts out of the station.

* * *

The platform feels bigger and quieter after Nagisa leaves, and Rei can't remember where he's going.

He flips open his phone to see if perhaps he'd been speaking with someone first, but the last message is from yesterday, when Nanase was half an hour late for work and Rei had sent a frantic message asking if he was okay. (He was fine; fell asleep in the bath and stayed an hour late to make it up.) He's quite certain he wasn't on his way to see Nanase, so he puts his phone back in his pocket and turns around to wander home.

It's not until he's in bed that night, staring at his ceiling, that he remembers he was going to tell Rin off for putting these thoughts in his head.

He also remembers the way Nagisa's hair had moved in the breeze from the train, the way he had to tilt his chin up just to look at Rei, the way his eyes were so soft and genuine, and his legs looked so long in those pants even though he's actually quite short.

Rei flings his arm across his eyes and thinks, dismally, that maybe this isn't Rin's fault, after all.

* * *

Wednesday morning, Nagisa loads up his backpack with all his university textbooks from previous semesters, plus one small, purple book of poetry. He lingered in the poetry section of the bookstore so long he got stares, picking up each slim, softback volume and thumbing through the pages. He eventually found the purple one, which he found appropriate because Rei's best bowtie is purple--and also because the poems are sappy and romantic and capture his obsessive feelings almost perfectly.

He apologizes to book lovers everywhere before he cracks the spine of the poetry collection, lest it look brand new and Rei figures out he bought it just for him. He's not sure he's ready for Step 4 yet. Usually he wants to rush things, but the plan is progressing so well that he's encouraged to take his time for once.

(Plus, Makoto pointed out—using Harvest Moon as a metaphor—that the most valuable crops take the longest to grow, and now Nagisa is enthusiastically thinking of Rei as a rare Blue Mist flower.)

He has morning swim practice first, which he's late to, but Makoto is waiting for him in the changing rooms. Nagisa waves as he sheds his clothes at lightning speed, his jammers already on under his shorts, and slams his backpack onto the bench so hard it rattles.

Makoto eyes it warily and asks, "What've you got in there?"

Undoubtedly he's thinking back to the one time Nagisa literally had bricks in his backpack, which he planned on hurling through the windows of some very mouthy, very rude people who said some choice words about Nagisa's nail polish and vibrant wardrobe. Makoto stopped him, of course, saying something about not being able to compete on the swim team if he's in jail, but Nagisa still pouted about it.

"They're books for Rei-chan," Nagisa says quickly, before Makoto can turn red or explode. He shoves his bag and his clothes in his locker and clicks the lock shut. "Okay, I'm ready!"

"Only five minutes late. Gou-chan may just let us live," Makoto observes with a glance at the clock hanging above the doorway, and mercifully doesn't comment on the fact that Nagisa is, at Rin's direction, supposed to be avoiding Rei for a while. He leads them out of the changing room toward the pool, the gigantic olympic-sized thing at their university that still kinda freaks Makoto out sometimes, which is why they usually swim together at the gym in the evenings.

Everyone else is already stretching, warming up, and Nagisa slides into a spot at the back and prays Gou doesn't see him. (She always does, though.)

"I'm almost scared to ask, but how is that going?" Makoto whispers to him between the routine one two, one two of touching their toes.

"So good," he whisper-yells back. "I saw him at the train station and we had a real, actual, honest to god conversation. I think I'm starting to wear him down."

"Wow," is all Makoto says.

"You sound surprised." There's a pout in his voice, and he's not ashamed to admit it.

"It's just," Makoto starts, and that's never a good start to a sentence with him. It always means he's going to say something kind of rude but is trying to phrase it the nicest way possible. "The way you described him, I kind of thought he wouldn't… you know… that you would have difficulty..."

"You thought I couldn't do it," Nagisa finishes for him sulkily.

"Well, kind of." To his credit, Makoto already looks guilty. His eyebrows are drawn together and his eyes look droopier than usual, like he could cry at any moment. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," Nagisa mumbles. He stands and twists his torso from side to side, following Gou's lead. "I guess it didn't look too hopeful, in the beginning. But," and here, he remembers walking into the bright, clean space of the library and seeing the most beautiful creature on earth standing at the circulation desk, lit up by the most luminous sunbeam shining in through the windows, "the first moment I saw him, I just knew, so I couldn't give up."

Makoto looks at him sideways. "You're really serious about him, aren't you."

"Yes," Nagisa says. He should be surprised by how much he means it, but he isn't. People seem to have this misconception about him, like he'll climb anything with a dick, but that's not how it is. Maybe it's because he grew up with three sisters who always told him princess stories about true love, or maybe it's because he's just a romantic at heart who's taken every dumb 'Does Your Crush Like You Back' magazine quiz, but he's not interested in a fling. He's interested in Rei, for the long fucking haul.

Makoto just gets this expression that's equal parts fondness and pride. After a few beats of silence, he beams at him and asks, "Do you need help carrying the books?"

"No offense, Mako-chan, but I think showing up to woo Rei-chan with a tall, hunky swimmer at my side probably isn't a good idea," he says with a wink.

Makoto chuckles and pretends like he isn't blushing. "Okay. Well, give me a call if you change your mind."

Nagisa isn't gonna change his mind, because he's selfish, and he wants to have his pretty librarian in his natural habitat all to himself. He suffers through practice and Gou's reps with as much humility as possible, which is a very difficult thing when Gou is yelling at him through a megaphone to pick up his arms higher and stop being so lazy, _this is what happens when you eat sugar for breakfast, Nagisa._ When he feels like giving up, he just remembers the way Rei blushed on the train platform that night, and reminds himself he can't visit Rei after this if Gou has killed him for not fully participating in practice.

Even though he's tired and his legs feel like jelly, he runs all the way to the library afterwards, dodging past early morning shoppers and tourists still struggling with jet lag. The building is tall and white and mostly windows, and Nagisa has stood and admired the architecture before, but today he pushes past the glass doors and runs inside with only one thing on his mind. The circulation desk sits in the center of the floor, a blonde wood semi-circle that usually has two workers standing behind it.

Today, he notices with a sinking heart, there is only one.

This is probably his karmic punishment for trying to see Rei before Rin said he should.

"Um," he says, slowing as he approaches the desk. He recognizes the person standing behind it as the quiet, dark-haired guy Rei is usually paired with. "Haru-chan, right?"

Haru flips a page in a magazine— _Swimming World Weekly_ , Nagisa notices with an excited little thrill—and says, "Haru."

"Yeah, so, Haru-chan—" he ignores the way Haru's eyebrow twitches "—can you tell me if Rei-chan is here today?"

"No."

God damn him and his vague wording. This is why he usually skips the formalities and doesn't even attempt being polite. "No, he's not here, or no, you can't tell me?"

"No, he's not here," Haru says, and it sounds like a sigh. An exasperated one.

"Are you serious?" Nagisa doesn't bother hiding his disappointment; he melts right on top of the circulation desk, his chin near the scanner and his elbows splayed on either side of his head. "But I brought all these books for him today!"

Haru shifts his magazine slightly to the side, away from the stray tendrils of Nagisa's hair, and says, "I'll take them."

"But I wanted it to be Rei-chan," he whines.

Haru sighs again.

Nagisa groans as he imagines lugging around his overstuffed backpack full of very, very heavy books for a second day in a row. Sure, Gou would call it resistance training, and sure, he could get Makoto to help him, but he knows the real disappointment isn't that Rei's not the one accepting his donations—it's that he doesn't get to see Rei today, at all.

"Can you at least tell him I stopped by?" Nagisa asks.

Haru shrugs. Somehow, Nagisa knows that mean yes.

He picks himself up from his puddle of self-loathing and turns to his backpack. He dumps all the books on top of the counter and sorts through them until he finds the poetry collection. It's soft and delicate in his hands—so thin, the words pared down to the perfect poems to describe his feelings. Er, the author's feelings. Well, maybe both.

"Will you just—give him this, and tell him it reminded me of him?" he asks, holding out the slim purple volume. "It's a donation to the library, not a present or anything. I mean, they're all donations, but this one's special."

Haru takes the book and eyes the title curiously. _I Promised You I Wouldn't Write This_ , _A Collection of Poems by Ari Eastman_.

Nagisa, who has probably never been embarrassed about anything ever since his sisters paraded him in front of the neighborhood in drag in elementary school, finds himself blushing. "Uhh, well, I mean, I guess it technically is kind of a present, but please don't tell him that."

Haru lifts his eyes and stares at Nagisa instead.

"It's just—you know, I'm trying to impress him, and he seems like the literary type? And it's purple and he looks so good in purple, and it's love poetry and I'm sure you've noticed I've got this really, ridiculously big crush on him, and, ughhh, this is such a disaster, why'd I have to come on the one day when Rei-chan isn't here?"

"I'll give it to him," Haru says as Nagisa sinks down lower and lower.

Nagisa blinks. "You will?"

"And say it's from you. Hazuki-sama, right?"

"Call me Nagisa," he says, bouncing back up. He shoves the rest of the books toward him. "And these are just regular donations."

"Sure," Haru says. He slips the poetry under the desk and starts stacking the other books in neat piles.

Nagisa isn't used to silence. "So, is that it?"

Haru looks at him through his bangs, arching a slim eyebrow. "Do you want a donation receipt?"

"Um, no?" he says.

Haru nods and resumes arranging the piles.

"Well, then, I guess I'll just be going?" Nagisa says.

When Haru doesn't reply, Nagisa zips his backpack up and slings it over his shoulder. Then he lingers around the DVDs for a while, just in case Rei happens to come back, and leaves when his phone beeps with a text from Makoto, reminding him he needed to be in class ten minutes ago.

* * *

Rei is composing a very stern disciplinary memo in his head as he walks back from the bank, a green zippered bag tucked under his arm. Whoever closed the previous night—and Rei is pretty sure it was Kisumi, but he hasn't had the chance to check the cameras yet—neglected to put correct change in the safe. This left Rei with the very unfortunate job of acquiring the appropriate denominations of notes and coins first thing in the morning, because Japan is still a cash-based society for all their other technological advances, and having change is very important. He is not particularly happy about this right now.

When he walks in the library, the first thing he notices is Nanase—or rather, the lack of Nanase. He seems to have disappeared behind an impressive pile of books that Rei immediately knows don't belong to the library. They're missing barcodes and labels, and the condition isn't exactly up to the standards Rei has set for their collection.

"Nanase-san?" he calls, approaching slowly.

Nanase's head appears from behind the pile. He blinks expectantly.

Rei is used to this, and he has a mental classification system for all of Nanase's blinks and nods and finger-taps. He's pretty sure this one means something like, 'yes, what do you want?' Only with zero the inflection, because Nanase appears to have declared eternal war on any kind of helpful intonation.

"What's all this?" He gestures at the tower of books he's already claiming in his head. They will go in his Curious pile, and he will read one tonight with a cup of chamomile tea if all goes according to plan.

"Books."

Sometimes Rei wonders if Nanase does this on purpose, just to get a rise out of him. He pinches his nose and focuses very hard on not engaging in whatever game Nanase is playing. "Yes, I can see that. What are they doing here?"

Instead of answering directly, Nanase pulls a small purple book out from under the desk and slides it across the counter. "This is from Nagisa."

"A donation?" Rei guesses, recalling their conversation the other day, and pulls the book toward himself. He raises an eyebrow, then flips to the first page and blushes furiously when he sees it's a poem about a boy's lips.

"I don't think so," Nanase says. His normally calm blue eyes look amused for once.

"I see." Rei slides the book under the counter on top of a cart they normally use for returned materials and pretends like he's abandoning it.

What he really does is leave it open and read bits and pieces at a time, little romantic lines that make him smile like a dork. He writes his favorite parts down on the backs of date due slips and doesn't think too much about what he plans on doing with them.

He also sets the rest of the donated books aside in a cardboard box with his name on it, to be taken home and sorted and added to his private collection. Not because they're from Nagisa, but because they're in no condition to be kept here at the library, and Rei has never met a Non-Fiction book he didn't like. (And maybe also partially because they're from Nagisa.)

* * *

 _I can never explain,_  
_but you are the last face I see before I sleep,_  
_and the name I check for on my phone when I wake._

* * *

"So how's blondie?" Rin asks Thursday morning at the gym.

"His name is Nagisa," Rei corrects, then wishes he hadn't. He blames this slip-up on the fact that most of his mental prowess is focused on counting reps. His deltoids are really straining, which only means he has to work them harder.

"Ohh, so you're on a first name basis now?"

He cringes. A bead of sweat rolls down his temple and hangs off his chin. "It appears so," he admits grudgingly.

"And did he give you the D yet?" Rin asks, grinning.

"First of all," he loses count of what number he's on and drops the weights on the floor with two shaking thumps, the sound muffled by the mats underneath, "what makes you so sure that I would be the one receiving the D, as you put it? And secondly, no, we're just—" he blushes and pushes his glasses up further on his nose, despite the fact that they were already at the top of the bridge, and now they're so far up that his eyelashes poke the lenses when he blinks "—talking."

"Oh yeah?" Leaning forward, Rin raises his eyebrows and widens his smile so his pointed teeth poke out over his bottom lip. "Has he sent you any sexts yet?"

"No! We've only spoken in person. We haven't even exchanged phone numbers yet."

"Yet, huh?" Rin's expression turns dangerous. Hunting. It really suits his smile.

"You are atrocious and I hate you," Rei says flatly.

"You do not. You love me." Rin face reverts to its normal state—like he can't be bothered to care about anything, but still possessing an intensity that Rei envies. Rin wipes the side of his sweaty neck with his towel and continues, "In fact, you're probably gonna go home and cry when I tell you I can't make our next couple man dates."

"For the last time, these are not man dates, they are workout sessions, and we are workout partners."

"You're right, if I call 'em dates, Nagisa might get jealous."

Rei pointedly ignores that. "So why are you missing our next workout session?"

"University swim meet. Gotta taper," he says, grimacing at the floor, as though limiting physical activities for a week is the worst thing that could possibly happen. (For an athlete like Rin, it really might be.)

"I believe I can survive without your assistance for a week or two," Rei says, although if he's honest with himself, he'll genuinely miss seeing Rin. He envisions his schedule, neatly highlighted and printed in his day calendar, and how he'll have to adjust it. "I'll just cut heavy weights out of my routine. A few extra recovery days won't hurt me."

"You should come," Rin says.

Rei balks. "Is this another sexual euphemism?"

"No, but damn, now I'm sad I missed the opportunity."

Rei remains unconvinced.

Rin coughs and continues, "Anyway, I just meant like, you should come to my meet, cheer me on, meet my sister and shit. It'll take your mind off blondie."

"My mind is not on Nagisa-kun," he protests.

"You keep telling yourself that. When you're ready, feel free to come find me in reality."

Rei doesn't intend to dignify that with a response. He half-glares at him behind the shine of his lenses and picks up the weights again. Rather than start his previous reps again, he skips to the triceps and tells himself he'll circle back around to the delts if he has time.

Then, after ten counts, he says, "I'll come to your meet."

"Really? Yes!" From the corner of Rei's eye, he can see Rin pumping his fist in the air. "Fuck, yes, man, that's so cool. Thank you."

"I didn't realize it meant that much to you," Rei says.

"Come on, you're my bro, I need to have friends there to support me so I have someone to praise me for my amazing performance afterwards."

He rolls his eyes, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Ah, yes. Inflating your insatiable ego."

"Well, at least one of us ought to be getting something inflated—"

"Rin!"

Rin just laughs, a sharp bark of happiness, and is distracted from furthering his impropriety by the chiming of his phone. He pulls it out of the pocket of his gym shorts and squints at the screen.

"Looks like I'm being summoned," he murmurs, lifting his eyes to Rei's. "You need a spotter for anything else?"

"No, I'm fine." Rei can't help his curiosity—Rin has never left one of their sessions early, not for anything. "Where are you going?"

Rin holds one finger to the side of his mouth, smirking, and says, "Secret."

"Well, if you insist," Rei huffs.

"I do." Winking, Rin slings his towel around his neck, holding both ends, and walks toward the exit. "See you at the meet this weekend!"

Rei grunts in agreement and focuses on his weights. But it's a moot point, because his thoughts couldn't be farther from the task at hand. When they're not directed at Nagisa—and yes, he can admit that maybe his mind was slightly on Nagisa—they're wondering what on earth could be important enough to take Rin from one of his last workouts before his taper.

* * *

Nagisa is on his third milk tea by the time Rin actually walks into the cafe, slumped into an oversized jacket with a baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes. Nagisa nearly snorts a chunk of ice at the sight, and Rin glowers as the other customers stare and Nagisa turns progressively redder.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Rin hisses, sliding into the seat across from him. He kicks Nagisa hard in the shin when all Nagisa can do is giggle helplessly. "Cut it out!"

"You just look so funny, Rin-chan," he says, rubbing his eyes where a few tears have squeezed out. "Like a movie star trying to hide from his fans."

Rin kicks him again. "I am. I'm hiding from Rei."

At the mere mention of that name, Nagisa sees hearts and stars and sits up ramrod straight, milk tea forgotten at his elbow. He grasps both of Rin's hands tightly in his own and demands, "Did Rei-chan say anything about me yet?"

Rin smirks triumphantly and doesn't pull away. "Well, he called you Nagisa."

"Oh my god!" Nagisa thinks he's going to faint. He squeals internally and squeezes Rin's fingers harder. "That's so amazing, Rin-chan! Do you think I should visit him? I could skip my morning classes tomorrow or something, I mean, who really needs Algebra anyway, right?"

"Nah," Rin says. "Don't bother."

Nagisa feels like he might as well have been suckerpunched in the gut. He drops Rin's hands, mouth wide open in shock, and eventually squawks out, "What!?"

"Yeah, I mean, there's really no point," Rin continues, and Nagisa feels like his lungs are disintegrating, he can't breathe, until he sees the glint of Rin's white teeth and realizes that the bastard is grinning as he adds, "Since he's coming to the meet on Saturday."

Nagisa knocks his milk tea off the table. He will apologize to the waitstaff later, once he's calmed down and has finished hugging Rin, his bony arms locked around Rin's neck and squeezing.

"Oh my god, Rin-chan, you're my hero," he says into his ear, over and over, so excited his chest can barely contain his rapid, staccato heartbeat.

Rin pats his back awkwardly. "Keep it in your pants, dude. Save it for Rei."

"I'm just so happy!"

"Yeah, uh, I can kinda see that."

The tea drips onto the floor steadily as Nagisa keeps hugging him, his fuzzy blond head buried into the crook of Rin's neck. Nagisa soaks up the moment as Rin desperately throws napkins at the growing puddle on the floor, until he feels energized to take on the rest of the day.

"Thank you so much," he says as he pulls away. The energy is still there, buzzing right below his skin, but he tries to contain it to his smile. "Seriously, Rin-chan. You're amazing."

"Yeah, I know," Rin says, looking pleased at the praise. He waves his fingers and says, "That's not a sign to stop, by the way. Keep complimenting me and I'll think about calling it even."

"Oh, great amazing Rin-sama, best butterfly stroke swimmer in all of Japan," Nagisa starts with a grin, and proceeds to extol every virtue Rin possesses, and even some he doesn't, and presses his hand to his chest to revel in the excited thrum of his heartbeat.

He's gonna see Rei on Saturday, not as librarian and patron, just as person and person, and he doesn't know how on earth he's going to contain himself until then.

* * *

Rei is nervous when he shows up to the swim meet. Deviations from his routine tend to do this to him: reduce him to a slow, shuffling pile of nerves, just waiting for something to go wrong. Japan is leaving its rainy season and joining summer, and the sun beats hot and strong, and he can already feel sweat beading on his upper lip and the small of his back, beneath the polyester fabric of yet another sweater vest.

Rin has instructed him to sit in the first row, two from the aisle, which Rei initially countered by saying there was no way in hell a seat like that would still be open unless Rei camped out beforehand. Still, Rin insisted, so Rei is going to humor him and drag his nervous footsteps closer to the designated seat.

He's surprised to find there is actually a seat open—sort of. It's got a bag perched on it, next to a girl with a long ribbon of a red ponytail. Rei is pretty sure he recognizes that particular shade of red, and he feels a little more confident in his approach now, stopping alongside the girl and coughing into his fist to gain her attention.

"Excuse me, miss. Is this seat taken?"

Red eyes look up at him, and Rei is even more certain this girl is related to Rin. He's actually bracing himself for some kind of vulgar monologue in case Rin's foul mouth is as genetic as his coloring.

Then she just goes starry-eyed and touches his bicep and says, dreamily, "You must be Rei-san."

"Uh," he says.

"I've seen the routines nii-chan has written for you, and with this—" she squeezes a little and nods to herself. Her hand slips up to his shoulder, fingers digging into the meat of Rei's shoulder. "—I have no doubt who you are. You know, I'd be happy to take a closer look at your workouts for you, if you'd like."

He delicately removes her hands from his person and says, firmly, "That's quite alright, miss—?"

"Oh my gosh, I haven't introduced myself, that's so rude!" She pops out of her seat and bows her head, her ponytail slipping over her shoulder and dangling by her elbow. "Matsuoka Kou. It's nice to meet you."

"Ryugazaki Rei. It's nice to meet you, too," he says. He feels a little relief at the confirmation that this is indeed Rin's sister, and not some wild muscle groper attending a swim meet for whatever pornographic reasons, but his gut still tightens with apprehension.

"Here, have a seat." Kou quickly picks up her bag and sits down again, holding it on her lap. She gestures at the empty seat excitedly.

"Thanks," he says. He sits on the very edge with his body angled away from hers, shielding his eyes from the searing sun as he looks out at the pool, sparkling and serene. Swimming has never particularly appealed to him—mostly because he sinks like a stone the moment he steps foot in water—but it's so hot that he actually finds himself wishing for a quick dip.

It's then, while he’s admiring the water, that he sees a familiar head of unruly yellow hair standing near the water in a track jacket and vibrantly pink jammers, and he gasps.

Then wheezes, because he's choking on his own spit.

"Rei-san!?" Kou pounds on his back a little too hard. "Rei-san, are you okay?"

He coughs harder and holds up a hand, trying to say yes, he's fine, Kou-san, but he just wheezes a little more. His eyes are fixed on that blond hair and the crinkled magenta eyes below it. He can't believe Nagisa is here.

Well, he can, since he knows Nagisa swims every morning, but it's just. Unexpected.

"Ohh, here's Makoto and Nagisa!" Kou unzips her bag and pulls out two blue cones for cheering. She hands one to Rei and yells into the other. "NAGISA! MAKOTO! DO YOUR BEST!"

Rei doesn't know what's more startling—the loud, abrupt noise in his ear or the fact that Kou and Nagisa apparently know each other.

Nagisa turns around and waves enthusiastically until he's dragged away by a tall, heavily muscled man that Rei vaguely recognizes as the illustrious Mako-chan that Nagisa's sometimes with at the library.

Rei grips the cheer megaphone a little tighter, then hesitantly raises it to his lips and says, "Good luck."

"That's no good," Kou says, pursing her lips. "You've gotta do it louder, or he won't hear it! Come on, one more time!"

So they count down, and they yell, "Good luck!" in tandem, and when Nagisa swivels and looks for them in the stands, Rei swears their eyes meet. His heart flutters a little, and he lowers the cone, embarrassed.

"I'm going to buy some water. I'll be right back," he says, hurrying out of his seat, and ignores Kou's protests that he's going to miss the first heat if he leaves now.

If he held less disdain for lowbrow humor, he'd reply that there's already plenty of heat under the collar of his sweater vest.

* * *

Rin wins butterfly, and Nagisa cries and hugs him with his arms locked around his neck because he's so happy for him. Rin is plenty fucking happy himself, looking down at the heavy medal on the ribbon around his neck what seems like every five seconds, but Nagisa insists on sharing his own happiness, because you can never have enough. It also helps distract him from the fact that he didn't even medal and he's afraid that whatever fragile thing he's built with Rei has shattered now that he's seen him completely fuck up a race.

"Quit hangin' on me or your boyfriend will get jealous," Rin mutters, shoving Nagisa's face away.

Nagisa stubbornly nuzzles Rin's hand even as it's pushing him away and says, "He's not my boyfriend."

"But you want him to be, don't you?"

"That is the goal, yes."

"Then get off me." Rin gives him one more hard shove.

Nagisa lets himself be pried off and turns, searching for Rei's blue hair and red glasses, a ball of something cold and nervous forming in the pit of his stomach.

He doesn't have to look long, because Rei is walking towards him in long, graceful strides, and he's smiling. He's smiling, and it's so beautiful that Nagisa can only stare with his mouth wide open and his eyes as big as dinner plates, because it's the first time he's ever seen Rei with that expression and he's falling in love all over again. He wants to make Rei smile like that every day for the rest of their lives.

"Nagisa-kun," Rei says as he stops in front of him, hands in his pockets. "That was very impressive. Congratulations on placing fourth."

"Rei-chan, you—" Nagisa holds it together for approximately five seconds, and then the tears just start streaming down his face, and he lunges at Rei. Rei catches him, snotty-faced and everything, and his arms fit perfectly around Nagisa's waist. Nagisa holds onto his shoulders and hiccups, "You're so nice."

"Nagisa-kun?" Rei says, bewildered.

"I did awful," he says into Rei's neck. "I totally messed up. Gou-chan is gonna yell at me and the team's all disappointed and I'm not going to finals."

"Um." One of the hands on Nagisa's waist shifts, and then it's rubbing small, soothing circles along Nagisa's back. "Well, I don't know much about swimming, but I thought you did very well."

Nagisa can feel the rumble of Rei's voice against his cheek and in his chest. It's nice, and the hand on his back is nice, and everything is nice when he's with Rei.

He pulls back to tell him this, but when he locks eyes with him, what comes out is, "Please go out with me."

Whoops. That's step five. He's not supposed to be on step five yet.

Rei looks as stunned as Nagisa feels. His face turns bright red and he fumbles with his glasses, releasing Nagisa's waist in the process, and Nagisa is so sure he's going to say no, and then they'll just go back to being librarian and patron again, and Nagisa feels faint with how much he doesn't want that.

But then Rei says, "Okay."

"About fucking time," Rin says. He smacks both of them in the back of the head. "I better be the best man for one or both of you fuckers with the amount of effort I put into getting you idiots together."

"Rin-san!" Rei says. He's got his Librarian Face on, all pinched and proper and emanating You Are Breaking The Rules.

Nagisa loves that face. He loves Rei, he realizes. Or had already realized, but feels the need to act on at this exact moment. He tugs on Rei's stupidly adorable bowtie and says, "Rei-chan?"

Rei blinks down at him, and Nagisa doesn't miss the way his eyes soften. "Yes?"

"Can I kiss you?" he asks.

"Um, well, I don't—I mean, I don't think this is really the place—"

"Of course it's the place," he says sensibly, hands straightening the collar of Rei's vest. He can feel the jut of Rei's collarbone beneath it, the heat of his skin just a thin layer of fabric away. "I mean, you want to congratulate me for placing fourth, right?"

"At least blow your nose first," Rin says.

"Rin-chan, you are ruining the moment!"

"Okay, okay, sorry. I'll leave you two lovebirds alone." Grinning, Rin backs away with his hands raised. Gou takes the opportunity to tackle him sideways and scream in his ear about how proud she is. Makoto is somewhere in the background, trying to blend in and failing because he's heads taller than the rest of them.

"Sorry about that," Nagisa says. He's aware that his nose is indeed running and he probably should take care of that before his first kiss with Rei, but that's what happens when you're an emotional rollercoaster like Nagisa is.

"It's quite alright," Rei replies. His fingers twitch, and then he's holding out his hand. "But before--before you do whatever it is you're thinking of doing, please answer me this: would you care to have dinner with me tomorrow evening?"

"Oh my god, you are the most perfect man on earth," Nagisa squeals. He takes Rei's hand with both of his and squeezes it so hard Rei's knuckles probably hurt. "Yes, let's eat cake tomorrow to celebrate, and then I'll blow my nose and we can kiss and we will be boyfriends."

"I don't know about all of that."

"Which part?"

_Please not the kissing part, please not the kissing part, please not the kissing part--_

"I'm not sure if cake is such a good idea the day after an athletic event," Rei says, looking so incredibly serious that Nagisa can't help himself—he pops up onto his toes and kisses Rei's chin passionately.

"It will be fine." He pats Rei's cheek and tries not to feel too smug about being the cause of Rei's increasingly dazed expression. He can hear Gou calling for him, telling him to hurry up and get ready because they need to be on the bus soon, but he pretends like he can't. Not yet. "Where do you wanna meet tomorrow?"

"I was thinking I could pick you up."

"Oh my god, you cannot get any more perfect. Okay, give me your number and I'll text you my address?"

"Certainly." Rei pulls out his phone and clears his throat. "Then, if I may have yours as well?"

"Yeah, definitely! It's— _oh my god, Gou-chan, I can hear you just fine, would you please give me a freakin' minute_?!"

"Erm," says Rei.

Nagisa smiles sweetly. "As I was saying," he says, and shoves Gou's face away as he recites his number to Rei with a growing sense of delirious happiness. His heart is in his throat, so big and electric he's almost choking on it.

When Rei gives him his number in return, he saves it as _Rei <3_. He stares at the contact info the entire ride home and no one, not Gou or Mako or the other team members, can convince him to stop kicking his feet and humming, no matter how many people stare at him.

He's that fucking happy.

* * *

Over dinner—which Nagisa has managed to turn into more of a dessert sampling than anything nutritious, and Rei valiantly manages not to point out that perhaps his poor diet had more of an impact on his swimming performance than he cares to admit—Rei is struck by a realization.

"You were right," he says, his chopsticks halfway to his mouth, so caught off guard that he says it out loud instead of keeping it to himself.

"About what?" Nagisa tilts his head curiously. There's a smear of whipped cream on his upper lip.

"When you last asked me out, you said that next time I was going to say yes."

"I did?" Nagisa blinks his gigantic eyes.

"Yes." Without thinking, Rei reaches across the table and brushes away the cream with his thumb, then licks it off. It's disgustingly sweet. He can think of a dozen whipped cream recipes that are healthier and probably taste better, and he decides he's going to test out a few on the library staff this week before introducing Nagisa to the healthier side of sweets next weekend.

Nagisa wheezes rather satisfactorily. Rei feels it's only fair, given the surprise chin-kiss Nagisa gave him yesterday.

He's not sure why he resisted so long. Yes, Nagisa's fines are enormous, but he's discovering the mind behind the library account to be quite endearing, and he wishes he'd allowed himself to learn this sooner. "I must say, I'm glad you changed my mind."

"Oh?" Nagisa says, trying to recover from his embarrassment and failing. His cheeks are flushed and beautiful, his eyes glimmering. He looks inordinately happy.

Rei himself is reasonably pleased he's the cause of that happiness. He reaches over and holds Nagisa's hand very seriously. "You're very persuasive."

"Persuasive?" Nagisa says. "That's it? Just persuasive?"

"Well." He clears his throat, squeezing Nagisa's fingers a little. "And. Warm. And genuine. And I believe it's fair to say you have a very pleasing facial structure—"

"A pleasing _facial structure?_ "

He tries to wrestle his hand away but finds that Nagisa is now holding him prisoner with both of his own hands. Rei does not pout, because that is not an expression he is capable of, but he does—push out his lower lip slightly and furrow his brows.

"It was a compliment," he says.

"And it was adorable," Nagisa agrees, grinning. He pries Rei's fingers apart—they're clenched in a fist, because he absolutely hates being made fun of when he's trying to be suave—and forcibly intertwines them with his own. "Thank you, Rei-chan."

Rei's face heats. "You're welcome."

"Soooo." Nagisa is practically bouncing in his seat, swinging his legs and eating little bites of strawberry ice cream, the corners of his lips unwaveringly turning up into a smile.

"So," Rei echoes in confusion.

"Wanna go to the movies after this? Or—or! Better yet! We could rent a movie somewhere and cuddle and watch it at one of our place's and you can kiss me."

"Rent a movie?" Rei can't tell if Nagisa is being purposely obtuse or if he's really forgotten the impressive array of movies available at the library. He's leaning toward purposely obtuse, since he knows for a fact Nagisa visits the DVD racks on a regular basis. So he decides to be a gentleman and give Nagisa what he's obviously angling for: "Then, shall we go to the library afterwards and pick something together?"

"And kiss," Nagisa says, as though that's the most important part of the evening, and Rei is finally able to extricate his hand from Nagisa's.

"Perhaps," he says, and enjoys the way Nagisa pouts and complains more than he thought he would.

* * *

Nanase is the only one at the desk when they walk in. He lifts his head and nods at them in recognition, his normal I-don't-want-to-interact-but-am-required-by-library-policy-to-greet-you welcome. Then he seems to do a double-take, and there's the barest smile on his lips, and that's when Rei realizes Nagisa is holding his hand.

"Haru-chan," Nagisa crows, all sunshine and light, and lifts up their clasped hands as though Nanase hasn't already noticed. "Look!"

"Yes, I can see that," Nanase deadpans, but he's still smiling, just a little, and Rei takes that to mean ~~s~~ 'congratulations.'

"The DVDs are over here," Rei says to derail whatever noisy get-together story Nagisa is about to regale Nanase with, and also because Nagisa keeps looking over at the Non-Fiction section.

"I know. But I want to get a book, too."

 _Penguins, probably_ , Rei thinks, remembering Nagisa's tendency to loiter in the 590's, and slides his glasses up his nose like he does when he's about to impart some kind of incredible wisdom (or is very, very nervous). "May I recommend some for you?"

"Yes, of course." But Nagisa doesn't seem as excited by the prospect of Rei's reader's advisory as Rei expected him to be. He just seems distracted, glancing at the ceiling and the windows and dragging him into the stacks--predictably to the 500's, as expected.

Rei thinks maybe he needs to step up his game. He clears his throat, pulling a book out by its pristine spine. "This one is new," he explains, as though the green 'NEW BOOK' sticker on the front doesn't say that already. "And it had many favorable reviews in _Library Journal_. It's about emperor penguins, if you'd--"

He trails off, because Nagisa is slipping his arms around his waist, cheeks flushed and eyes bright.

"Um." Rei puts the book down.

"Sorry, Rei-chan," Nagisa says, not sounding sorry at all. "I wanted to wait until after the movie, but I can't. Did you know you're wearing my favorite bowtie?"

"Um," Rei says again, a little strangled, because no, he did not. And then Nagisa's hands are on his throat, sliding down to straighten the aforementioned purple bowtie that Rei wears fairly regularly, the one with a subtle butterfly pattern in a slightly lighter shade of purple that can only be seen when the light hits it just right.

"Is it okay? The security cameras can't see here—please don't ask me how I know that, I'd like to keep dating you at _least_ the rest of the day, if not forever—and I just want one kiss. Just one, I promise."

Alarmingly, Rei's first instinct is to say yes.

The sun shines in through the windows in strong, bright beams, illuminating Nagisa's face and hair. Normally Rei isn't fond of sunny days like this, because the light bleaches the covers of the books, but Nagisa looks so warm and inviting that Rei really can't bring himself to mind. Especially not when Nagisa has his arms around him, hands tucked between Rei's shoulder blades, and is standing on his tip-toes with an unbelievably happy grin.

"You're beautiful," Rei tells him, surprising himself, but it's true, and his chest is full of this warm, low-key contentment that he wouldn't mind feeling for a lot longer.

"You're beautifuler," Nagisa replies.

"More beautiful," Rei corrects, because it will literally bother him all day if he doesn't, and bends down to kiss him. Just once, he tells himself. Only because Nagisa asked.

He's aware that it is unethical to make out at work. He is also aware that they are not alone, that Nanase is at the front desk, and could walk around the corner of the stacks and see them at any moment. More than anything, he's aware of Nagisa's knee as it slides between his thighs and rubs against him.

"Sorry, Rei-chan," Nagisa breathes, like it was an accident, but doesn't pull away. He looks coquettish, like an imp, like an ethereal nymph come to distract Rei from his job and his duties and his life.

A line of poetry from the book Nagisa gifted him flits through his mind.

 _You are the shot of whisky that turns my throat from a body part to a_  
_I am a broken sparrow who flies back to your window because I heard you like_  
_my singing._  
_You are land mines of potential._  
_I am not afraid of the explosion._

Rei's not. He's not afraid of whatever temptation Nagisa brings, whatever _anything_ Nagisa brings, even when perhaps common sense would dictate he should be. He will allow himself to be drawn into this maelstrom gladly and he will follow it through wherever it takes them.

"It's fine," he says. If his voice is higher pitched than normal, Nagisa doesn't mention it. Rei doesn't grind back, exactly, but neither does he shift away, and his hands slip down the curved line of Nagisa's muscled back. He can feel the heat from Nagisa's skin through his shirt, firm and wonderful beneath his palms.

"Um," Nagisa squeaks, and Rei mentally marks a tally that this is possibly the first time he has ever taken Nagisa by surprise. But Nagisa recovers quickly, eyes widening with excitement and something a little darker, a little lustier. "Is this okay?"

"Shh," he says. He kisses Nagisa's lips and slides his glasses off his nose to perch in his hair. Just one more kiss, maybe. It's not as though he's on duty, after all. "Be quiet in the library."

"Is that a yes? Please, please say that's a yes," Nagisa says—babbles, really. He slides both hands up the front of Rei's shirt, eliciting a squeak that's probably loud enough to draw even Nanase's hard-won attention. "I've always wanted to do it in a library."

It's too late to stop him by the time Rei realizes what Nagisa thinks they're doing, and oh god, oh no, this is not—he's not _ready_. Making out is one thing, but sexual intercourse will _absolutely_ get him fired, no questions asked, and no matter how tempting Nagisa is, Rei absolutely still needs his primary source of income. So he slams on the breaks, mentally backpedals at a hundred kilometers per hour, and plays dumb. "I'm not really sure what 'it' is referring to."

"Sex, Rei-chan!"

Rei wills down his sudden and extremely unwelcome erection, thinks of calculus and sines and cosines and tangents, while still trying to maintain a properly affectionate expression. He's not sure how well it works. It's not an expression he's ever needed to pull off before. "I will not copulate at my place of work," he says, firmly. Nagisa's face falls, and it's so cute and Rei feels so bad that he leans down and nuzzles the top of Nagisa's fluffy blond head. "Not for our first time, Nagisa. But some affection is not unwelcome."

Distressingly, Nagisa's eyes begin to water. "Rei-chan--"

"What?" Rei panics, mentally reviews what he said. He doesn't think he's made a mistake and is honestly confused as to why Nagisa is upset. "What did I say?"

"You just said 'our first time'."

"Oh." He relaxes, re-evaluating the shine of Nagisa's eyes. Happy tears, he determines, and finds a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "So I did."

"That means you want there to be a first time?" Nagisa stands on his tip-toes to put both hands on Rei's shoulder, keeping them eye-to-eye.

"Yes, I do."

"And a second time? And a third time?"

"Whatever you want," Rei says, and means it.

Nagisa tackles him into the penguin books, and if Rei wasn't already grateful that they're in the security camera's blind spot, he would be now as they have to spend the next half hour putting the dislodged books back in Dewey Decimal order. Especially when Nagisa gets whiny and Rei pauses to appease him with more kisses, hand on his face and the sun warm on the back of his neck.

* * *

After they've cleaned up and Rei has checked out their movies on his library card (because his record is squeaky clean, unlike Nagisa's—he's planning on paying his fines, really), Nagisa takes great glee in digging out his list, soft and crumpling from being folded and re-folded so many times. He borrows a red pen from the reference desk and takes a deep breath, then draws a line through the final step.

HOW TO SEDUCE A LIBRARIAN

  1. ~~Return your books on time (IN GOOD CONDITION)~~
  2. ~~BE QUIET IN THE LIBRARY~~
  3. ~~Donate to the library~~
  4. ~~Buy your librarian books~~
  5. ~~Ask them out to dinner~~
  6. ~~???~~
  7. ~~PROFIT~~



Then he stares at the list several moments longer and realizes he doesn't need it anymore, and sorts it appropriately in the trash, because Rei is now hovering at his side and nudging the small of his back with his strong hands, and feeling Rei's warm skin against his is all the profit Nagisa thinks he'll ever need.

('til he gets him home and naked, anyway.)

**Author's Note:**

> Nagisa's love poetry anthology is real, FYI. Samples were used from _I Promised You I Wouldn't Write This_ , A Collection of Poems by Ari Eastman. It's available on Amazon as an eBook and I highly recommend it.
> 
> please come yell about sports anime with me on [tumblr](http://reeology.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/reeology)


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